Utah Cop Called Felon For Having 3 Wives

DENVER — Polygamy not only ``sounds naughty,`` it is socially unacceptable and illegal, says an attorney for a Utah town that fired a police officer because he had three wives.

Allan Larson, representing Murray City before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said he believes former officer Royston Potter was a good policeman and is sincere but the town cannot employ a ``practicing felon.``

Larson urged a three-judge panel of the court to follow common sense and the accepted social order and reject Potter`s appeal.

Besides, he said, ``Polygamy sounds naughty.``

Potter, 31, sued Murray City after he was fired for having three wives.

Potter contends his Mormon faith permits polygamy, so the firing violated his First Amendment rights to religious freedom. U.S. District Judge Sherman Christensen in Salt Lake City rejected that argument last year, and Potter appealed.